# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_October 1856_S320
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

320 Miscellaneous Church News.

…pure doctrine of Holy Scripture have recognized, desire that the church as a whole, and the pastors and laity in particular who here call themselves Lutheran, either confess and again ground themselves upon this Lutheran doctrine, or give up the name Lutheran. This demand, however, is exactly as reasonable as it is little burdensome to conscience. It is reasonable, since the church named after Luther has, after all, no other doctrine than this one, so that whoever does not hold it to be biblical is not and cannot be a Lutheran. It is not burdensome to conscience, since it can be against no one's conscience to be honest, namely to say that he is not what he is not, or to bind himself to the teaching and confession of a doctrine that he himself already holds to be true.

Saxony. On June 8 of this year the Muldenthal Pastors' Conference observed its 25th founding anniversary in Waldenburg in the Principality of Schönburg (K.-P. Saxony), on which occasion Dr. Rudelbach delivered a splendid address, communicated in the "Saxon Church and School Gazette." The introduction to this address is formed by the words: "I am an old Lutheran," whereupon the thesis is developed: "The Word and the Cross make us certain."

American Lutheranism. As we learn from the "Luth. Observer," Dr. S. S. Schmucker has published a defense against Pastor Mann's "Plea" (see "Lehre und Wehre," the March issue of this year), under the title: "American Lutheranism vindicated; or examination of the Luth. Symbols, on certain disputed topics. Baltimore; published by T. Newton Kurtz. 1856," in 12mo, pp. 192. According to the notice carried in the paper named, the book contains, 1, the argument that the Augsburg Confession contains the doctrines of regeneration through holy baptism, of the bodily presence of Christ in the holy Supper, of private confession and absolution, and that Sunday was not instituted by God Himself; and 2, that all this is plainly error conflicting with Holy Scripture.

The "New York Ministerium." According to the "Missionary," this body, during its recent sessions, among other things rejected the custom of calling a pastor for only a fixed, shorter or longer, term as one "irreconcilable with the nature, dignity, and salutary character of the Christian preaching office"; further appointed a committee to report on the proper stance which pastors ought to take toward secret societies; and finally instructed its delegates to the General Synod to vote against the adoption of the so-called Definite Platform.